


My Brother's Keeper

by tehhumi



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Burning of the Ships at Losgar, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Ghosts, it's awkward to talk to your dead son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 17:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15466854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehhumi/pseuds/tehhumi
Summary: Some say that Amrod and Amras died together at Sirion. Some say that Amrod died years before, in the fires of Losgar. Both tales are true enough.





	My Brother's Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> Using Quenya names throughout  
> Pityo = Amrod = Ambarto = the older twin, the one who was on the ships  
> Telvo = Amras = the younger twin, the one who realized Pityo was still on the ships  
> Ambarussa = a name both twins used for each other

_Telvo?_

The voice in Telvo’s mind jolted him out of his panic, in a way his brothers’ voices out loud hadn’t.  Maybe it was because this voice had been constantly screaming, in the air and then in his head when the smoke got thick, ever since the fire had started. But now Pityo’s voice seemed calm.

_Pityo! You escaped the fire?_

_No, I burned to death._

_Not funny._

_Not joking._

_You’re dead?_

_Yes. Something is pulling me to go; I don’t know if it’s Mandos or the Everlasting Darkness._

_It can’ be Everlasting Darkness, right?  We haven’t failed to get the Silmarils, we’ve barely started seeking them._

_YOU haven’t failed.  I died without any Silmarils, trying to go the opposite direction. I don’t want to risk it._

_What choice do you have? Your f_ _ëa_ _cannot linger long now that you’re – now that your body’s – gone. You know that as well as I do._

 _I think I do have a choice. My f_ _ëa needs a body, **my** body. But – there’s a body the correct shape right here. My f_ _ëa_ _could connect with that body_. _I could fit into it._

That scared Telvo. There were tales, from the Great Journey and before, of houesless spirits that tried to take the bodies of living elves.   

_… and what would happen to me, if you take my body?_

_Not taking, I don’t think, but maybe – sharing? I think I could just be in your body, and not use it at all, if you wanted. That would be enough to ignore the pull._

_You don’t sound very sure that this will work._

_No, but I think I’ll be able to leave it starts to hurt you, Ambarussa.  Will you decide quickly? The pull is strong, and I can’t fight it much longer._

_Well, I suppose we’ve always shared everything else, Ambarussa. You may come in._

Telvo felt it, like speaking mind to mind, but wider, stronger, deeper. His twin’s fëa was here, in his body, just as much as his own was. Pityo wasn’t going to leave, not to Valinor or Mandos or the Everlasting Darkness.

 

 

Tyelcormo heard a thump, and when he turned from the burning ships he saw Telvo lying on the ground.  He ran over quickly.  Please let him not have died – there had already been a few who had died of grief, whose family had been killed by the Teleri and were now alone.  But Telvo ought to be alright, he’d lost one brother but he still had the rest of them, and Father as well.  Tyelcormo focused on that thought.

“He’s breathing,” Tyelcomo sad with relief. Fëanáro and his other sons drew closer, from where they had walked off after Telvo yelled at Father.

Suddenly, Telvo sat up, nearly colliding with Tyelcormo as he did so. “What are you doing?”

“You collapsed.  I was checking you were – alright.”

“Checking I hadn’t died with Pityo, you mean.”

Tyelcormo had no idea what say to that.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to die of grief and leave you all behind.  In fact, I have good news!”

“Oh?” Tyelcormo warily asked his increasingly manic brother.

“Pityo’s not leaving either!”

So Telvo’s fëa had broken with grief rather than fled.  “Pityo died.  He was on the ships.  You explained this quite clearly to Father.”

“Oh he’s dead, but he’s not leaving! The Everlasting Darkness can’t have him; he’s staying with me.”

“The Everlasting Darkness – oh from our Oath.  I don’t think you have to worry about that, I’m sure he’ll be able to find his way to Mandos.”

“You’re not listening.  _Pityo_ is worried about the Everlasting Darkness.  He doesn’t want to go, and I don’t want to be alone, so we agreed he could stay here with me.”

Fëanáro was the first to grasp what his youngest son was saying.  “You _invited a houseless spirit_ to take your body?  You’ve put not only yourself, but the rest of us in great danger!”

“I invited my _twin brother_ to _share_ my body after you doomed and killed him.  He’s not causing any harm, now that we’ve established that these arms and legs are mine, not his.”

“Every tale of houseless spirits says they drive elves mad!”

“Every tale involves the spirit being hostile and unwelcome.  Pityo is my brother, he politely asked for a way in, and he is quite welcome.”

Curufinwë saw no reason to indulge his youngest brother’s delusion any longer. “You say Pityo is still – around, and you are the one in control of your body.  Could you let him speak to us?”

“I can let him, but he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Why not?”

“He says we all murdered him. I don’t think he’d even have talked to _me_ if he’d had another way to avoid Everlasting Darkness.  We all burned the boats, even if Father’s the one who set a torch to Pityo’s ship specifically.”

“What about Maitimo? He asked Father to send the ships back for Fingon and the rest.”

Telvo looks at the ground for a moment, then his head raises. “I will speak with Maitimo.” The voice is completely flat, and his eyes don’t focus quite right.

Maitimo stepped close to his youngest brother – brothers? “Pityo?”

“Yes. I apologize if words come out oddly; Telvo broke his jaw once falling from a pear tree and I didn’t.”

“Do you want to go somewhere private to talk?”

“I have nothing particularly private to discuss, unless you want to know how it feels to burn to death.  I simply don’t wish to speak with anyone who killed me.”

“None of us knew you were still on the ship.”

“And yet I died.  What do you want from me? I told Telvo I’d let him use his body without intervention, but I can’t talk to you while he’s in control.”

“I want to know – how to be sure you’re doing alright, and what you plan on doing now.”

“I’m not doing alright, and never will again.  I’m _dead_ , and nothing Telvo’s body feels is actually mine, and I’ll never see Mother again. As for plans, I have none.”

Maitimo hugged Ambarussa at that.  “I’m so sorry, and I’m glad you’re here and not in the Void.” Eventually he released his brother, who had not moved at all during the embrace.  “What do you want us to with you, if you have no plans?  You can’t easily command a separate force the way we did on the ships, but making you and Telvo share a command doesn’t seem fair either.”

Fëanáro interjected softly. “So quick you are to distribute authority over my people, Maitimo.”

“I don’t want a command.  Telvo can do as he wishes, but I will not follow King Curufinwë any farther.”

“But – why?”

“I turned back, and was killed as a result of abandoning my king.  That was no worse than my due, and I accept it without grudge.  But my fealty was pledged until death, and the king has by his own hand released me from it.”

There had been a word for what Pityo claims happened, from back before the Eldar met Orome, when the tribes knew not the laws of the Valar.  Macalaure had found the near-forgotten word in the libraries of Tirion ears ago, looking for a word for his songs. “ _Tarokwendak_.  You are claiming that our father, King of the Noldor, _executed_ you for betraying him.”

Telvo’s mouth smiles at that. “I like that word.  I expect we’ll need it again, now that we’ve returned to the shores of Endórë. And yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

Fëanáro burst out, “That is ridiculous! I am greatly sorry to have harmed you, but your death was an accident, not a punishment! I have no desire to see any of my sons hurt, and will not _execute_ anyone.”

“I have nothing to say to Fëanáro Curufinwë.  I will not follow him, not to another kinslaying, not against Morgoth, not into Beleriand. I am a guest here, though, and will not prevent Telvo from acting as he sees fit.  You can ask him yourself what his plans are.”

Telvo’s body went limp for a moment, and he began to cry.  “I didn’t know he’d say all that, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let him talk –”  

Maitimo is closest, and hugs him.  Telvo clings to his big brother. “Shh, it’s alright, we don’t blame you.  We asked to talk to him, and now we know he’s safe, and you’re safe.  You did a very brave thing, letting him in, and letting him take control long enough to talk to us.  I’m sorry I can’t help more…”

Fëanáro said only, “You are never to blame for anyone’s actions but your own.  We march east in an hour.”

**Author's Note:**

> I made the word for execute from Primitive Elvish, courtesy of elfdict.com. It comes from the words tar(o) “king,” kwen “speak with rational words,” and ndak “slay.” Tarokwendak would therefore mean “the king justly commands death.” If Quenya had a word for ‘execute’ prior to the Flight of the Noldor, I don’t think it would be widely known, as the concept was so alien to life in Aman. 
> 
> In the Shibboleth of Feanor, Fëanáro says “His ship I burned first.” I take this to mean that Amrod was officially in command on that ship, and likely each of Fëanáro’s sons was in command of a ship. Fëanáro was thinking ahead, to organizing the army when they made landfall.


End file.
